Lose the Pain
by undercovergiraffe
Summary: Hermione is taken by Deatheaters and Sev saves her. But painfull memories can do much damage... Can they both find each other again in the end?


**OK, hey everybody. It's been a rough couple months but i've decided to come back into fan fiction by posting this HG/SS story I wrote last year.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

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Hermione woke on the bed, her whole body groaning in protest as she drew in a breath. They had gone too far this time. This time when she slipped into sleep she wasn't going to wake up. Hermione gladly welcomed death. After three weeks of hoping death would come, it was finally near.

She was ripped from her thoughts as the door opened. Turning her head painfully, Hermione recognized Lucius and another man walking towards her. Pain coursed through her body as Hermione tried to shrink into the bed.

"Morning Granger." Hermione stared at him blankly.

Lucius moved towards the cabinet on the other side of the room. Hermione knew it was filled with cursed blades and other Dark objects. The other man stood, staring at her. He had on Death Eater robes, with the hood pulled up low over his eyes. The man seemed familiar..., yet Hermione couldn't place him. She was surprised she could think so clearly. Three weeks or torture, both muggle and wizarding, hadn't been good to her.

Lucius approached the bed now, blade in hand. Her drew close and suddenly fire burst in her arm. Hermione screamed. Already weak from malnutrition and loss of blood, she hovered dangerously on the edge of consciousness. Tears poured down her cheeks, and Hermione withered on the bed, desperate for the pain to stop. Then several things happened.

Hermione saw Lucius, knife in hand, blade hovering above her eyes. Suddenly everything went black and pain exploded in her head. Hermione cried out, vaguely aware of Lucius's cruel laughter. Then the laughter stopped and something thumped to the floor. She felt something touch her arm. Hermione jerked her arm away, crying out when pain shot through her.

"Ms. Granger, you need to be still."

Hermione froze. Her mind was so fuzzy, but she knew she had heard the voice before. Hermione continued to fight the darkness in her mind.

Then she felt something cool pressed agaisnt her lips. "Drink."

Hermione turned her head away, ignoring the pain. "No. Please no more.", she whispered hoarsly.

"This is for the pain.", the man said gently. "I'm taking you from this wretched place."

Hermione whimpered, not sure what to think. Her mind couldn't push past the haze surrounding her thoughts.

She wanted to believe that this man did indeed want to take her away, but Deatheaters were not above playing cruel jokes. If only the pain would go away, and allow her to think clearly! Then again... if whatever the man wanted her to drink killed her then she'd no longer have to endure endless torture. Hermione turned her head back and nodded once painfully. Something cool once again was pressed agaisnt her lips, and slowly a thick liquid was poured into her mouth.

After a few seconds numbness took over her body, dimming the pain. Hermione sighed softly, not sure what was going on.

"I've got to get you to Hogwarts...", the man murmered,"I've got more potions that will help."

With most of the pain numbed, Hermione's brain finally clicked. "P-Professer Snape?", she whispered hoarsly. Of course she'd heard his voice recently, he was a spy for the order. She tried again to fight the blackness in her eyes. No luck, the world remained dark.

"Please Hermione, lie still. You don't seem to know how injured you are."

Hermione felt herself being wrapped in a blanket, then pulled snug into someone's arms. Snape's she assumed. Then there was the familiar suffocating and misplaced air signaling apparation. Snape walked a dozen or so steps before gently laying her on something soft. Hermione felt the earlier potion starting to wear off. A small cry escaped her lips as searing pain replaced numbness. She heard Snape move away before returning. A potion vial was once again pressed agaisnt Hermione's chapped lips and she gratefully drank it.

"Sleep." She heard him say before slipping into uncosciousness.

_2 Months Later_

I could feel Severus's eyes on me as I stepped out in the high necked, long sleeved dress dark blue dress. Sev said I had recovered perfectly, but I thought otherwise. Scars ran along every part of my body. They were jagged and slightly raised, and would never heal. And I was still blind.

Today would be my first day outside Sev's quarters. He said we would be dining in the Great Hall tonight, with the other teachers. Most of them had come to visit me since my return, and I found talking to them soothing. It had amazed me how easy it really was to talk to my least favorite professor. Severus was now my best friend, and often times my life line. Harry and Ron had gone off on some all important mission during my absence, and I flat out refused to speak with Dumbledore.

Severus helped me put Healing Salve on most of the cuts throughout my body, and eye elixar in my eyes. Sev didn't have lots of hope for my sight returning, but was willing to try anyway. He was there every night when nightmares plagued my sleep. I had no patience for anyone who called him a slimy git anymore.

I had asked him at breakfast if we could take a walk down by the lake before dinner. So now here I was, with only my face showing any skin, about to go on a walk with Severus Snape. My face. My once pretty face now had a jagged scar running from the left side of my forehead diagnoly down to my right cheek. And my eyes. My honey brown eyes had been changed to a cloudy, milky white.

I felt Sev clasp a cloak around my shoulders as we prepared to leave.

"You look lovely Hermione." I whipped around towards the voice. Dumbledore. I felt Severus pull me back towards him as anger shook through me. Dumbledore had ordered that if Sev got the chance to rescue me he would not. He said that the Order would save me. That had Severus not saved when he did the Order would have been there in two days. I point blank had told him that another day and I would've been dead.

"Please...", my voice was weak, memories of those three weeks flooding my mind. "Please leave."

I heard the Headmaster take a step before Severus pulled me gently behind him. "Albus, leave now."

"Severus, my boy, I have to have Ms. Granger tell me about her time captive before her memory starts to fade."

That did it. I sank to the floor, tears rolling down my cheeks. Severus was instantly beside me, pulling me into his lap. I sobbed into his chest. "Oh please let the memories fade! I don't want to remember..." I could almost feel the glare Severus was sending Dumbledore.

I had to do something to numb the pain. Anything. I carefully got up, giving Sev's arm a reassuring sqeeze. I made my way to the bathroom, aware of where Dumbledore was in the living room, and locked myself in. I put up wards and silencing spells on the room. It would keep them out for a few extra minutes. I reached down into my boot for the small knife I kept there. Taking a deep breath, I started making six small cuts on my left arm.

I vaguely heard Severus pounding on the door as I slipped into the darkness that was so familiar. There were no dreams, no Deatheaters, no anything. And I loved it.

_7 Years Later_

Severus Snape sat in the hospital ward at Hogwarts, staring at Hermione Granger. 7 years ago today she'd put herself into this, this coma. He was happy for her. It seemed the he was the only person who understood why Hermione had done this. Dumbledore thought it was his fault. Potter and Weasly had stopped visiting after year 4.

But he, Severus Snape, would not give up. Hermione would pull herself out when she was good and ready. Not before then. One just had to be patient. So every Saturday for the past 7 years he came and sat with her. He didn't talk or read aloud, just sat.

Students in the school loved to gossip about him and her. It was sometimes the only thing that made him smile. They were always wondering who the strange, beautiful lady was in the infirmary, and why the bat of the dungeuns was always staring at her. The stories were pretty out there. 2 years ago Dumbledore had tried to move Hermione to St. Mungos. Students were still gossiping about that.

Severus sighed and stood up. He had a feeling that Hermione was almost done with her solitude. A few more years perhaps... He bent down and kissed her forhead gently. Some Ravenclaw quidditch players stared at hima moment before turning to eachother and whispering furiously. Severus glared at them before leaving the infirmary.

_2 Years Later_

Hermione woke with a gasp. She opened her eyes, and saw Severus Snape smirking at her."It's about time."

"Hey Sev.", she whispered before he pulled her into a hug."I missed you." Hermione pulled back, and pressed her lips gently agaisnt his. Severus froze in surprise before returning the kiss. Hermione smiled against his lips before pulling back.

"How long?"

"Nine years."

"Harry and Ron?...", she whispered, almost afraid to know the answer.

"Stopped visiting 5 years ago."

Hermione nodded."Right." She stared at Severus, as if trying to memorize his face."Can we go home now?"

"Of course."

Severus scooped her up in his arms and started walking out through the halls to the dungeuns. They were so busy staring at eachother they didn't notice the students whispers that followed them.


End file.
